Police workforce

Published 4 October 2019

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• at the end of March 2019, 93.1% of police officers were from the White ethnic group and 6.9% were from other ethnic groups
• 4.0% of senior officers were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined, compared with 2.8% in 2007
• between 2007 and 2019, the total percentage of police officers from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups went up from 3.9% to 6.9%
• according to the 2011 Census, 86% of people in England and Wales were White and 14% were from other ethnic groups

Things you need to know

The police workforce includes:

• police officers of all ranks
• police community support officers (PCSOs)
• designated officers
• staff in other roles (referred to in charts and tables as ‘police staff’)

This data focuses on police officers, but the analysis ‘By ethnicity and role’ looks at the whole police workforce.

Figures are based on 'full-time equivalent' (FTE) staff numbers. For example, someone who works 2.5 days a week has an FTE of 0.5.

At the end of March 2019, there were 123,171 FTE police officers in the 43 police forces in England and Wales (excluding the British Transport Police).

Figures are shown separately for special constables, who are volunteers and not counted as part of the police workforce. The figures count the total number of special constables regardless of whether they work part-time or full-time.

Data comes from from the personnel records for the 43 police forces in England and Wales, and the British Transport Police.

Population estimates come from the 2011 Census (the latest available figures). It is likely that there have been some population changes since 2011 that aren't accounted for in this data. For that reason, please consider these figures as estimates.

Since the British Transport Police covers the whole of England and Wales, a rate per population per region has not been calculated.

The percentages given here only include people whose ethnicity was known. In 2019, ethnicity wasn’t known for:

• 3% of police officers
• 3% of the total police workforce
• 10% of special constables

For reference, the tables include numbers of staff whose ethnicity wasn’t known.

What the data measures

This data shows the ethnic make-up of the police workforce in England and Wales.

The data comes from a snapshot taken on 31 March every year.

The data focuses on police officers. Figures are also shown for the entire police workforce, which includes:

• police community support officers (PCSOs) – paid staff who work with police officers and have some police powers
• designated officers working in specific roles like detention officers and investigation officers
• staff in other (usually civilian) roles with no police powers, referred to in the charts and tables as ‘police staff’

There is a separate analysis for special constables. Special constables have the same powers as police officers, but are unpaid volunteers.

The ethnic categories used in this data

Staff working for the police in England and Wales report their own ethnicity based on the following 5 broad groups:

• Asian/Asian British
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
• White (including White ethnic minority groups)
• Other ethnic group (including Chinese)

2. By ethnicity (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers, and percentage of the overall population (at 2011 Census), by ethnicity

Ethnicity	% of police officers	% of population	Number of full time police officers
Asian	2.9	6.8	3,475
Black	1.2	3.3	1,492
Mixed	2.1	2.2	2,473
White	93.1	86.0	111,695
Other inc Chinese	0.7	1.7	888
Unknown	N/A*	N/A*	3,148

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary

This data shows that:

• at the end of March 2019, 93.1% of police officers were from the White ethnic group
• 2.9% of police officers were Asian, 2.1% had Mixed ethnicity, 1.2% were Black and 0.7% were from the Other ethnic group

3. By ethnicity over time (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2007 to 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers by ethnicity over time

	Asian		Black		Mixed		White		Other inc Chinese		Unknown
Time	% of police officers	FTE	% of police officers	FTE	% of police officers	FTE	% of police officers	FTE	% of police officers	FTE	% of police officers	FTE
2007	1.5	2,111	1.0	1,350	1.0	1,419	96.1	134,372	0.5	632	N/A*	1,999
2008	1.6	2,231	1.0	1,371	1.1	1,525	95.9	134,000	0.5	656	N/A*	1,920
2009	1.7	2,472	1.0	1,427	1.2	1,699	95.6	135,651	0.5	689	N/A*	1,839
2010	1.8	2,607	1.0	1,446	1.3	1,844	95.3	135,293	0.5	745	N/A*	1,799
2011	1.9	2,582	1.0	1,442	1.3	1,838	95.2	130,870	0.5	754	N/A*	1,625
2012	2.0	2,607	1.1	1,420	1.4	1,871	95.0	125,579	0.6	766	N/A*	1,858
2013	2.0	2,563	1.1	1,361	1.5	1,865	94.9	121,086	0.6	749	N/A*	1,961
2014	2.1	2,665	1.1	1,352	1.5	1,922	94.7	119,071	0.6	776	N/A*	2,124
2015	2.2	2,795	1.1	1,373	1.6	2,028	94.4	117,757	0.6	785	N/A*	2,079
2016	2.4	2,881	1.2	1,433	1.7	2,096	94.1	114,437	0.7	808	N/A*	2,411
2017	2.6	3,104	1.2	1,432	1.8	2,185	93.7	112,953	0.7	841	N/A*	2,616
2018	2.7	3,266	1.2	1,424	1.9	2,309	93.4	111,505	0.7	852	N/A*	3,048
2019	2.9	3,475	1.2	1,492	2.1	2,473	93.1	111,695	0.7	888	N/A*	3,148

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary

This data shows that:

• between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of police officers who were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups went up
• the biggest increase was in the Asian ethnic group, where the percentage of police officers went up from 1.5% to 2.9%, and the number of full-time equivalent officers rose from 2,111 to 3,475

4. By ethnicity and area (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers, and percentage of the overall population (at 2011 Census), by ethnicity and police force area

	Asian			Black			Mixed			White			Other inc Chinese			Unknown
Geography	% officers	% population	Number of police officers	% officers	% population	Number of police officers	% officers	% population	Number of police officers	% officers	% population	Number of police officers	% officers	% population	Number of police officers	% officers	% population	Number of police officers
All - excluding BTP	2.9	6.8	3,475	1.2	3.3	1,492	2.1	2.2	2,473	93.1	86.0	111,695	0.7	1.7	888	N/A*	N/A*	3,148
Avon & Somerset	0.4	2.1	10	0.4	1.9	10	2.2	1.8	52	96.8	93.3	2,351	0.3	1.0	7	N/A*	N/A*	246
Bedfordshire	5.4	13.2	63	1.5	4.8	17	3.1	3.0	36	90.0	77.5	1,035	0.0	1.4	0	N/A*	N/A*	13
British Transport Police	4.3	N/A*	119	2.6	N/A*	72	2.7	N/A*	74	89.9	N/A*	2,479	0.5	N/A*	14	N/A*	N/A*	85
Cambridgeshire	1.3	4.9	19	0.5	1.3	8	2.0	2.0	29	95.8	90.3	1,372	0.3	1.6	4	N/A*	N/A*	15
Cheshire	0.5	1.2	9	0.3	0.3	5	0.9	1.0	17	98.3	96.9	1,899	0.1	0.5	2	N/A*	N/A*	75
Cleveland	1.0	3.1	12	0.4	0.6	5	0.1	1.0	1	98.3	94.5	1,156	0.2	0.8	2	N/A*	N/A*	22
Cumbria	0.3	0.6	3	0.2	0.1	2	0.6	0.5	7	98.9	98.5	1,123	0.0	0.3	0	N/A*	N/A*	25
Derbyshire	2.0	3.6	36	0.3	1.0	5	0.9	1.4	16	96.6	93.3	1,702	0.2	0.7	3	N/A*	N/A*	5
Devon & Cornwall	0.1	0.7	3	0.3	0.2	6	1.0	0.9	25	98.4	97.5	2,338	0.2	0.6	5	N/A*	N/A*	623
Dorset	0.3	1.4	3	0.2	0.4	2	1.2	1.3	14	98.3	96.0	1,110	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	94
Durham	0.4	0.8	4	0.1	0.2	1	1.1	0.7	12	98.4	97.8	1,098	0.1	0.5	1	N/A*	N/A*	2
Dyfed-Powys	0.2	0.8	2	0.1	0.2	1	0.7	0.6	6	98.9	98.0	905	0.1	0.4	1	N/A*	N/A*	230
Essex	0.4	2.3	11	0.2	2.0	5	1.9	1.6	56	97.4	93.2	2,934	0.2	0.9	7	N/A*	N/A*	58
Gloucestershire	0.8	1.8	8	0.4	0.9	4	1.2	1.5	12	97.5	95.4	1,012	0.2	0.5	2	N/A*	N/A*	35
Greater Manchester	4.0	9.2	254	0.8	2.8	48	2.0	2.3	128	92.7	83.8	5,940	0.6	2.0	36	N/A*	N/A*	38
Gwent	0.9	1.7	11	0.5	0.6	6	0.6	1.0	8	97.7	96.1	1,240	0.3	0.6	4	N/A*	N/A*	40
Hampshire	0.9	3.0	24	0.3	0.9	8	1.3	1.6	33	96.9	93.3	2,518	0.6	1.1	16	N/A*	N/A*	98
Hertfordshire	1.5	5.7	31	0.8	2.8	16	2.1	2.5	43	95.5	87.6	1,902	0.1	1.4	1	N/A*	N/A*	17
Humberside	0.6	1.3	12	0.4	0.5	8	0.6	0.9	12	98.3	96.5	1,844	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	12
Kent	1.3	3.1	47	0.3	1.3	10	1.6	1.6	56	96.5	93.1	3,377	0.3	0.9	9	N/A*	N/A*	54
Lancashire	2.8	7.4	76	0.1	0.4	3	1.9	1.1	52	95.0	90.4	2,620	0.2	0.7	5	N/A*	N/A*	139
Leicestershire	4.9	15.3	87	0.6	2.4	11	2.2	2.0	39	92.2	78.4	1,644	0.1	1.9	2	N/A*	N/A*	47
Lincolnshire	0.5	0.8	5	0.6	0.4	6	0.9	0.9	10	97.9	97.6	1,064	0.2	0.4	2	N/A*	N/A*	9
London, City of	2.4	9.2	18	1.8	2.6	13	2.1	3.9	16	93.4	78.6	688	0.3	5.7	2	N/A*	N/A*	3
Merseyside	0.4	1.4	15	0.5	1.1	18	2.1	1.5	71	96.4	94.5	3,231	0.5	1.6	17	N/A*	N/A*	44
Metropolitan Police	5.9	17.0	1,752	3.5	13.3	1,037	3.5	5.0	1,034	85.0	59.8	25,384	2.2	5.0	659	N/A*	N/A*	570
Norfolk	0.4	1.1	6	0.6	0.5	10	0.9	1.2	15	97.9	96.5	1,550	0.2	0.6	3	N/A*	N/A*	26
North Wales	0.2	0.9	3	0.1	0.2	1	0.6	0.7	9	99.1	97.5	1,419	0.1	0.6	1	N/A*	N/A*	26
North Yorkshire	0.7	1.2	10	0.1	0.5	1	0.9	0.9	12	98.2	96.6	1,338	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	16
Northamptonshire	1.2	3.3	14	0.9	2.4	11	1.6	2.0	19	96.1	91.5	1,092	0.1	0.8	1	N/A*	N/A*	50
Northumbria	0.5	2.7	15	0.1	0.6	3	1.1	0.9	33	98.2	94.6	2,932	0.1	1.3	4	N/A*	N/A*	94
Nottinghamshire	2.4	4.4	46	0.9	2.5	17	1.9	2.8	35	94.6	88.8	1,806	0.3	1.4	5	N/A*	N/A*	27
South Wales	0.7	2.8	20	0.2	1.0	5	1.4	1.4	42	97.4	93.4	2,891	0.3	1.5	9	N/A*	N/A*	20
South Yorkshire	2.0	4.1	46	0.4	1.9	10	1.3	1.5	30	96.3	90.6	2,267	0.1	1.8	2	N/A*	N/A*	14
Staffordshire	1.2	3.2	19	0.4	0.8	7	1.1	1.3	17	97.2	94.1	1,518	0.0	0.7	0	N/A*	N/A*	6
Suffolk	0.3	1.5	4	0.3	0.9	4	2.3	1.7	27	96.8	95.2	1,119	0.2	0.6	2	N/A*	N/A*	17
Surrey	1.3	4.8	24	0.6	1.1	12	2.1	2.1	38	95.3	90.4	1,730	0.6	1.7	10	N/A*	N/A*	67
Sussex	0.4	2.5	11	0.2	0.9	6	1.5	1.9	38	97.4	93.7	2,426	0.3	1.0	9	N/A*	N/A*	139
Thames Valley	1.8	8.5	72	0.6	3.0	25	2.3	2.5	95	94.8	84.6	3,903	0.5	1.4	21	N/A*	N/A*	33
Warwickshire	3.1	4.2	25	0.1	0.8	1	0.9	1.5	7	95.5	92.7	769	0.5	0.9	4	N/A*	N/A*	12
West Mercia	0.9	1.8	18	0.3	0.4	6	1.1	1.1	22	97.6	96.2	1,926	0.1	0.5	2	N/A*	N/A*	15
West Midlands	6.9	18.0	442	1.4	6.0	93	2.5	3.5	159	89.0	70.1	5,734	0.2	2.3	12	N/A*	N/A*	54
West Yorkshire	3.5	12.6	180	0.5	2.1	24	1.6	2.2	83	94.1	81.8	4,826	0.3	1.4	13	N/A*	N/A*	11
Wiltshire	0.6	2.6	6	0.4	0.9	4	0.8	1.4	8	98.0	94.5	963	0.2	0.6	2	N/A*	N/A*	9

^* Not applicable

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Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2019, the Metropolitan Police had the highest percentage of police officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined (at 15.0% in total)
• this partly reflects London’s population as a whole, with 40.2% of people coming from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups in the 2011 Census
• in the West Midlands, a total of 11.0% of police officers and 29.9% of the general population came from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups
• in Bedfordshire, 10.0% of police officers and 22.5% of the general population came from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups
• police forces in North Wales, Cumbria and Dyfed-Powys had the smallest percentage of officers from Asian, Black, Mixed or Other backgrounds (at 0.9%, 1.1% and 1.1%), in line with their general population figures

5. By ethnicity and rank over time (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2007 to 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of police officers by ethnicity and rank (2007 and 2019)

	Asian				Black				Mixed				White				Other inc Chinese				Unknown
Rank	% 2007	Number 2007	% 2019	Number 2019	% 2007	Number 2007	% 2019	Number 2019	% 2007	Number 2007	% 2019	Number 2019	% 2007	Number 2007	% 2019	Number 2019	% 2007	Number 2007	% 2019	Number 2019	% 2007	Number 2007	% 2019	Number 2019
Chief Officer	2.0	4	1.5	3	0.5	1	0.5	1	1.0	2	0.5	1	96.6	196	97.5	192	0.0	0	0.0	0	N/A*	3	N/A*	21
Chief Superintendent	1.3	6	2.6	8	0.6	3	1.0	3	0.6	3	1.3	4	97.2	456	94.8	294	0.2	1	0.3	1	N/A*	0	N/A*	8
Superintendent	1.0	10	1.3	12	0.8	8	1.0	9	0.5	5	1.9	17	97.4	954	95.6	855	0.2	2	0.1	1	N/A*	8	N/A*	23
Chief Inspector	1.0	18	1.6	27	0.5	10	0.7	11	1.2	22	1.4	23	97.2	1,778	96.3	1,618	0.1	2	0.1	2	N/A*	18	N/A*	35
Inspector	1.0	72	2.2	125	0.5	36	0.8	43	0.7	49	1.5	85	97.5	6,790	95.1	5,325	0.2	16	0.4	24	N/A*	69	N/A*	113
Sergeant	1.1	235	2.1	396	0.8	179	0.9	172	0.7	162	1.7	309	97.0	21,026	94.8	17,584	0.3	65	0.5	89	N/A*	283	N/A*	342
Constable	1.6	1,766	3.1	2,929	1.0	1,113	1.4	1,268	1.1	1,176	2.2	2,052	95.7	103,172	92.5	86,413	0.5	546	0.8	776	N/A*	1,618	N/A*	2,691

^* Not applicable

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Summary

‘Senior officers’ include Chief Officers, Chief Superintendents, Superintendents and Chief Inspectors.

This data shows that:

• at the end of March 2019, there was a higher percentage of police constables from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined (7.5%) than senior officers (4.0%)
• between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of constables from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 4.3% to 7.5% in total
• between 2007 and 2013, the percentage of senior officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds went up from 2.8% to 3.9%, and remained stable since

6. By ethnicity and gender over time (police officers)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2007 to 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Number and percentage of police officers by ethnicity and gender (2007 and 2019)

	Female				Male
Ethnicity	Number 2007	% 2007	Number 2019	% 2019	Number 2007	% 2007	Number 2019	% 2019
Asian	402	1.2	721	2.0	1,709	1.6	2,755	3.3
Black	359	1.1	424	1.2	991	0.9	1,068	1.3
Mixed	393	1.2	729	2.0	1,026	1.0	1,744	2.1
White	31,463	96.1	34,470	94.3	102,909	96.1	77,225	92.5
Other inc Chinese	130	0.4	222	0.6	502	0.5	666	0.8
Unknown	371	N/A*	861	N/A*	1,628	N/A*	2,287	N/A*

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary

This data shows that:

• at the end of March 2019, there was a higher percentage of male police officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined (7.5%) than female officers (5.7%)
• between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of male police officers from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic backgrounds went up from 3.9% to 7.5%
• in the same period, the percentage of female officers from the same backgrounds went up from 3.9% to 5.7%

7. By ethnicity and role (whole workforce)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of people in the police workforce, by ethnicity and role

	Police Officer		Police Staff		Community Support Officer		Designated Officer
Ethnicity	%	Number (FTE) of staff	%	Number (FTE) of staff	%	Number (FTE) of staff	%	Number (FTE) of staff
Asian	2.9	3,475	3.3	2,047	4.5	417	3.2	149
Black	1.2	1,492	2.0	1,238	2.9	267	3.0	139
Mixed	2.1	2,473	1.1	677	1.5	141	1.6	73
White	93.1	111,695	92.9	57,000	90.0	8,361	91.4	4,233
Other inc Chinese	0.7	888	0.6	377	1.1	101	0.8	37
Unknown	N/A*	3,148	N/A*	3,074	N/A*	260	N/A*	262

^* Not applicable

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Summary

This data shows that:

• the percentage of people from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined working as police officers (6.9%) was lower than all other types of role
• 10.0% of police community support officers were from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds, the highest percentage out of all paid roles

8. By ethnicity (special constables only)

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2019
• Source: Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Percentage and number of special constables, and percentage of the overall population (at Census 2011), by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	% of population (2011)	Number (Headcount) of Special Constables
Asian	5.9	6.8	567
Black	1.8	3.3	173
Mixed	2.1	2.2	197
White	88.9	86.0	8,523
Other inc Chinese	1.3	1.7	128
Unknown	N/A*	N/A*	1,052

^* Not applicable

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Summary

Special constables are unpaid volunteers and with no fixed hours. The figures count the total number of special constables regardless of whether they worked part-time or full-time.

This data shows that:

• 11.1% of special constables came from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other backgrounds combined
• there was more ethnic diversity among special constables than among police officers and other roles

9. Methodology

Data comes from each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, and the British Transport Police.

Police staff report their own ethnicity from a list of 5 options.

Police forces keep records of all their staff on human resources and payroll systems. The Home Office checks the quality of the data. Police forces confirm the data again before it is published.

Rounding

Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.

Quality and methodology information

10. Data sources

Source

Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Home Office

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

Ethnicity and gender data is used by police forces as part of diversity monitoring schemes.

11. Download the data

Police Workforce - Spreadsheet (csv) 51 MB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, Aggregate Officer/rank, Detailed Officer/Rank, police force area, FTE, headcount, value, rate, proportion of population

Publication release date: 4 October 2019

full page history

1. 4 October 2019 Updated with the latest available data (for 2019).

From: Home Office

Previous editions:

1. 14 May 2019
2. 29 June 2018
3. 28 February 2018

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